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AARP Here I Come

These past couple of weeks have been happy ones for my family. I turned 51 in May and my wife turned 50 in March, and we signed up for AARP membership. We made it!

I’d been looking forward to joining AARP for the past two or three years and couldn’t wait to join.

With about 40 million members, it’s one of the largest membership organizations in the U.S. and for the first time, for just a few bucks a month, we've joined a group with real bargaining power.

We appreciate the discounts at the Regal movie theaters and at the Outback Steakhouse. Those perks are welcome, but I’m talking about the big nut: insurance.

For the past three years I’ve been working for a company with 20 or 30 employees and for two years before that for a freelance service with no benefits.

From 2003 to 2013, I’d worked for a company with between 200 and 300 employees.

These employers negotiate with insurance companies for benefits coverage and do the best they can, but they don’t have anywhere near the clout of an organization with 40 million members, of which my wife and I are now part.

Other than holding a U.S. passport and a Pennsylvania driver’s license, I’ve never been part of an organization this large.

For the first time since working for a large publicly held company with tens of thousands of employees, I feel as though I now have the upper hand when it comes to bargaining power to extract better deals for life insurance, property and vehicle insurance, lifetime income annuities, investment services, dental and vision insurance, long-term care and a plethora of other benefits.

When you’ve worked “naked” without insurance coverage for a few years, and when you’ve just come off paying $1,000 for one root canal, you’ll appreciate the warmth and protection of an AARP blanket wrapped around you in the form of good coverage.

A dental insurance premium of about $72 a month through AARP will get me far more comprehensive coverage than the $49 a month we pay now to protect our teeth.

No more having to shop on the insurance exchanges or having to rely on employer-sponsored benefits for dental coverage — unless its markedly cheaper and more comprehensive.

There are plenty of other benefits that AARP offers as well and I’m looking forward to surfing AARP.org at greater length in my free time.

Minutes ago, I filled out the AARP webpage for annuity information.

… oh, look at that, in my email in-box as I write I’ve got a message telling me my annuity information and quote from top notch New York Life is on its way.

Now that my wife and I are finally part of an enormous clan, it looks like we are on our way, too.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.